'the Prisoner'

The Prisoner is a British television series created by and starring Patrick McGoohan in the lead role of Number Six. It was first broadcast in the United Kingdom in 1967 and subsequently in the United States in 1968.

The show follows the protagonist, who has resigned from his job in the British Secret Service, and finds himself trapped in a mysterious village. It is run by by a group of individuals known as "The Authority" where each villager is assigned a number and none of the people can leave. Each episode features Number Sixs attempts to escape the mysterious village and discover who is behind The Authority.

The Prisoner became an iconic piece of pop culture and has been critically acclaimed for its inventive use of film and television, with Martin Scorsese even calling it an "iconographic masterpiece". The show has been analysed by scholars and compared to Alice in Wonderland for its exploration of the individual's power and role within society.

The Prisoner has had huge international influence and has been referenced in popular culture from films such as The Matrix to television shows including Futurama. It inspired a remake in 2009, where Ian McKellen starred as Number Two, and has since been remade in Japan and South Africa.